The Morkel Genealogy

A few days ago I posted the Morkel Genealogy, consisting of 29 busy pages of the family tree. It was a big task. I started by entering PW Morkel’s Genealogy (Franklin Boonzaaier compiled it in the 1950s) into the Family Tree Maker application – all 195 pages! Then compared it line by line with the Genealogy in GISA (Genealogical Institute of South Africa, Vol 5, L-M, pages 677 to 684). Considering the many opportunities for error, it was pleasing to find that the bulk of the entries were confirmed. The main differences were in coverage – each source contained portions of the family missing in the other. I also added information about the family that we accumulated over the years from family members. Gerrit Morkel generously contributed the family tree for descendants of Willem (Japie) Morkel, who lived during the latter part of the 1800s in Johannesburg, including the rugby springboks, Sommie and Dougie. Margaret Thebus collaborated with me to sketch out the Beaufort West branch, which is missing in both the Morkel and GISA genealogies.

The Genealogy is reasonably complete up to the 1905/60s with opportunistic forays to recent times, where information happened to be available. There is a huge gap in our genealogy since the 1960s, which I hope some dedicated family member/genealogist will one day fill. Thus far there are more than 1,600 names in the database. As more names and dates become available, I will update the file.

There are bound to be errors in the database. They can start with primary documents, which were eventually transcribed by genealogists, then retyped into books and finally entered into our database. At each stage errors can occur. I went through my entries line by line at least three times and tried to have it as accurate as I could make it, but there are bound to be remaining errors. If you spot any and /or have additional information, please let us know via the “Contact Us” facility. I shall be happy to assist anyone who wants to update the Morkel Genealogy.